1973 Riverview Redmen hockey team remembered

SYDNEY — With the Riverview Redmen preparing to represent Cape Breton at the provincial championship later this month, this is as good a time as any to look back at a not-too-distant era when the Coxheath school was home to not only the best high school hockey team in Nova Scotia, but arguably the best hockey team at any level in Cape Breton.

From 1970 to 1973, Riverview principal Bob MacKenzie coached his team to three consecutive provincial high school hockey championships, with the third and final title at the end of the 1972-73 season standing the test of time as the last provincial hockey title won by a Riverview team.

Back then, Friday night games between Riverview and arch-rival Sydney Academy regularly drew jam-packed crowds of 2,500 to 3,000 to a cramped and chilly Centennial Arena in south end Sydney. Many of the fanatical fans who leaned over the boards to get a closer view of the action — there was no plexiglass in those days — were from the two schools, but there was no shortage of "regular" hockey fans who were drawn to the high school game because of the high calibre of hockey on display.

And it wasn't just a Sydney and area thing — Thompson High in North Sydney, led by quality players like Greg Dearing, Eric Young, Gordie Taylor, Larry Clarke and Butch Boutilier, and St. Michael's in Glace Bay, spearheaded by the the Cadegan brothers, Jeff and Eric, were both capable of beating the two Sydney-area powerhouses on any given night.

"In the playoffs, if you didn't get there an hour before the game, you weren't getting in," said Gary Lewis, a small but skilled centreman who was one of the leaders on all three Riverview championship squads. "There was no AAA midget or junior hockey back then, so your best hockey players who would now be in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League or the Maritime Junior Hockey League would be playing high school hockey.

"We had players graduating from our program who went on to Dalhousie, Saint Mary's and even U.S. colleges."

Billy Small, a versatile player on the 1971-72 and 1972-73 championship teams who could play both forward and defence, remembers how hard-fought the games were, particularly against Sydney Academy.

"The games were fast and physical," he said. "It was high-quality, intense hockey, particularly in the playoffs.

"It was tougher to get out of Cape Breton, but there were some good mainland teams, usually out of the Annapolis Valley, teams like Kings County Academy and Windsor High. In fact, we won the provincial title one year by beating Windsor in a two-game, total-goal series where we lost in Windsor and had to win the second game and the championship in Sydney."

Small agrees with Lewis's assessment of why the high school game was such a good one 40 years ago.

"Now, there are so many levels of hockey where good players can play. But back then, there was more of a direct route to the high school team. And for us it was a lot of fun to represent your school with a good hockey team."

Both men agree that the "X" factor to the team's success over the three-year championship period was the late Bob MacKenzie, who introduced innovative thinking and modern training methods when he took over as Riverview's head coach.

"Bob was the key," said Lewis. "Bob took us from outdoor rinks — most of us hadn't played indoors until we were about 13 or 14 — and taught us how to play the right way. It took him a couple of months to teach us the fundamentals, but he moulded us, taught us how to win.

"And he was ahead of his time. We were doing dryland training in 1971 and Bob was always bringing in guys to work with the players, like (former Sydney Millionaires) defenceman Robert MacNeil to work with our defence, or (former WHA goaltender) Keith Lelievre to work with our goaltenders."

In MacKenzie's memory, a group of former Riverview players, led by Lewis, Jim Munroe, Art Fennell, Lou Grosset and A.J. MacRae, established an annual scholarship to Cape Breton University for Riverview student-athletes that is funded largely through an annual golf tournament at Lingan. This spring, MacKenzie's memory will be further honoured when he is inducted into the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame.

"Everyone on the team had tremendous respect for Bob, as a principal and a coach," added Small. "He was a great teacher of the game and a very good coach. He asked a lot of his players; you had to work hard in his practices in order to play.

"As you get older, you begin to realize what a significant influence he had on your life. At the time, we were 16 and 17 years old and all we wanted to do was play hockey."

But a rivalry isn't worth much if your most hated opponent isn't up to the task. Sydney Academy may have lost those three championships in the early 1970s, but they won more than their fair share of provincial titles before and after that brief period of Riverview dominance.

Jerry Stevens graduated in 1972 from Sydney Academy, the year before Riverview's third and final championship, but the slick and speedy forward got a good taste of the rivalry over the three hard-fought preceding seasons.

"It wasn't friendly!" he said, laughing. "There were no friends made until we went to college. When I went to college and started playing hockey, I started getting together with guys who I was fierce enemies with back in high school. You all start to become friends and it becomes sort of like a fraternity.

"Guys like Gary Lewis, we are good friends now. A lot of those guys — and I know them all — were fierce competitors, but once we got out of high school and into college and senior hockey and started playing together, we all becomes friends forever."

When the players look back on the era, the one thing that stands out for each of them was how much fun it all was for everyone involved.

"I think the hockey back then created a lot of entertainment," said Lewis, "not only for us players but for the people but for the people watching.

"It was exciting and it was fun — and you didn't have to travel 600 miles to see it. It was right there in our communities."